Mastering Reported Speech.

Mastering
Reported Speech.

«..there are both obvious and subtle [intelligent] differences in the

power individuals and particular interest groups possess to ensure
[guarantee] that particular narratives will prevail [master] in family,
group, and national life. Not all stories are equal».
Joan Laird

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

«Stories are our primary tools of learning and teaching, the

repositories of our lore [knowledge] and legends [stars]. They bring
order into our confusing world. Think about how many times a day
you use stories to pass along data, insights, memories or common-sense
advice».
Edward Miller.

«The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of

mind: artists, inventors, storytellers-creative and holistic ‘right-brain’
thinkers».
Daniel Pink

«If you're going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all».
Joseph Campbell

«[Critical] - What is it discover by my person, with the Quotes selected,

for the present theme ‘Mastering Reported Speech’. I discover an
incredible sense of coherence, precision, intelligence and ‘atemporal’ -
[eternal] - significance, towards you, towards Mexico y towards the
Planet Earth of The Milky Way. Note: ‘atemporal’ is intensely searched
by VOA-ERD as survival and eternal importance».
M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

We often need to tell others what someone else said. There are two ways to do
this. One is to say the same words and use quotation marks. That is "direct
speech." The other method is to summarize, or tell about what someone said.
This is called "reported speech." Before we get into the rules for reporting
speech, here are the terms we are using to explain it.

Subject noun or pronoun Reporting verb Conjunction Reported speech clause

She Said that she wanted a cookie.

Rules for reporting speech

To get this kind of sentence right, there are four things you should keep in mind:

The first rule is to choose a reporting verb and tense.

When did the speech happen? With current, repeated or recent events, the
reporting verb is in the present tense. "He says he is hungry, so let's go to lunch."
A habitual or repeated statement is in the present tense: "Everyone says the
water is safe to drink." For reporting less immediate speech, choose the past
tense. The reporting verb is often said, but it can also be told, or other verbs like
ordered, stated, or reported, depending on the situation. When reporting
questions, you can use verbs like asked or requested.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

The second rule is to change the perspective, or point of view.

That means I becomes he, she, or they.

"Mary said 'I ate the pie."' becomes

"She said that she ate the pie."

"The boys said, 'We are coming tomorrow'" becomes

"They said they are coming tomorrow."

Next, choose whether to include "that or "if."

You can say, "He says he is at home" or "He says that he is at home." That is a
conjunction here, linking the two parts of the sentence. It is optional. Another
conjunction, if, is required when reporting on a question: "He asked me if I knew
how to play tennis."

The fourth rule is to "backshift" the tense.

This is the trickiest part of reported speech. When the reporting verb is in the
past tense, the verb in the reported clause is in the past tense, too. The verb
aspect, showing whether the action is completed, matches. Here are some
examples:

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

"I am buying my ticket." (present continuous)

-> He said he was buying his ticket. (past continuous)

Ashley: "I have fixed my bicycle." (present perfect)

-> She said she had fixed her bicycle. (past perfect)

Reporting speech in English would be easy if these rules were all learners
needed to know. But as usual, there is more to learn. Let's look at what happens
with questions and modals.

Reporting on questions

When we report questions, we have to pay attention to the auxiliary verb. These
are words like do, be, and have. Yes or no questions begin with an auxiliary,
such as

"Do you like pizza?"

To report that question, drop the auxiliary and add if:

He asked me if I liked pizza.

Learners often make the mistake of leaving the auxiliary verb in the reported
speech: He asked me do I like pizza.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

Information questions start with a question word:

"Where are you going?"

To report on these, simply change the pronoun and word order.

She asked me where I was going.

Here, learners often make the mistake of keeping the same word order: She
asked me where was I going.

A similar word order switch appears with the verb "be" in questions.

They asked, "When is the party?"

-> They asked me when the party was.

The question word "when" remains. "Be" moves from a position before the noun
to after the noun.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

Reporting speech with modals

Finally, pay attention to whether the speech you are reporting uses a modal
verb. Will, can, and shall change to would, could, and should when reported.
Will is used to make statements about the future in English. When reporting this
kind of statement, will becomes would. Compare these sentences:

Kelly said, "I will pick up the sandwiches."

-> Kelly said she would pick up the sandwiches.

Modal verbs may appear in questions, as well:

Caty asked, "Can you answer the phone while I'm out?"

-> Caty asked me if I could answer the phone while she was out.

If the modal verb is already in its past form, it does not change when reported.

George stated, "I would not do that."

-> George said he would not do that.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

Test your knowledge

Let's try a few sentences. I'll say the direct speech, and you make a sentence in
reported speech.

Our boss said, "You can all go home early today."

-> Our boss said we could all go home early.

Anna asked "When is your birthday?"

-> Anna asked me when my birthday was.

Adam said, "I am leaving on Tuesday."

-> Adam said he was leaving on Tuesday.

Chris said, "I will bring the cake."

-> Chris said he would bring the cake.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

Reported speech in song

Reported speech sometimes shows up in popular songs. The singer Lisa Loeb
begins the song "Stay" with a reported verb in the present tense to show that the
action is a habit.

you say I only hear what I want to

you say I talk so all the time so

Later she reports something in the past, so the reported speech verb is in the
past tense.

you said that I was naive,

and I thought that I was strong.

I thought, "hey, I can leave, I can leave."

but now I know that I was wrong, 'cause I missed you.

Follow these simple rules and you will be reporting speech like a pro.

She said that you would be reporting speech like a pro.

I'm Pete Musto.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

And I'm Jill Robbins.

Reference

Reporting Direct Speech Direct Indirect Speech Reported

Verb Tense Speech Speech Tense
Tense

Present Adam says, "I Present Adam says he has Present Simple
have a headache. I simple a headache, so he (it is still true)
can't go." can't go."

Past Adam said, "I am Present Adam said he was Past continuous
going to Seattle." continuous going to Seattle.

Past Ashley said, "I can Present Ashley told us she Past Modal
clean up." Modal form could clean up. form

Past Ashley said, "I Present Ashley said she Past perfect
have never been Perfect had never been to
to Seattle." Seattle.

Dr. Jill Robbins wrote this story. Adam Brock was the editor.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

You can take the audio (mp3) from my Personal Page, or the next url:

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/everyday-grammar-reported-
speech/2856671.html?ltflags=mailer

English language:

https://sites.google.com/site/mcenriqueruizdiaz/
https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

«The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth».
Psalm 145:18

«I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power
through his Spirit in your inner being».
Ephesians 3:16

Lazos Increíbles.

M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

The Books, and a Mexico with Competence of Integration in the World.
Visa & Passport of the 21st Century.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

Discover The VOA- ERD Collection for Your English.

Visit my Personal Page. Get ahead.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

Know the Project: Books of English, from English 1 to 5, for all

the CBTIS of the United Mexican States.

The Students can do the organization as they like it; but

absolutely, the Responses are written by hand, and the Works
are Presented by Groups with a Maximum of 5 persons.

«I formulated a project for the CBTIS (Technological Industrial and of Services Center of
Bachelor Degree) 107 of Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, México consisting in giving to the Library of this
Institution with five volumes of English language, of my authorship. A book for each semester,
from the first English book to fifth English book (according to the plan of studies in this regard
of the CBTIS). At no cost to the Institution, because this is a donation (in the staff, I solve my
expenses of the project with income of my employment as a professor that I would be in this
CBTIS).
One of the major advantages of this project is to solve the need of the student of
spending in books of English language because the books will be at your complete disposal into
the student community in the Library of the institution.
Afterward, in an immediate subsequent phase of this project is that among the student
community of this CBTIS and all the CBTIS of the United Mexican States will have these 5
volumes of English language by means of a page of Google; read it, neither cost nor restriction
to obtain them.
Well, as a last note, I must say that these books will have the format of 'workbook'.
This, as an intelligent work with foundations and then their respective exercises to resolve, into
a concurrent process». M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.
The Books, and a Mexico with Competence of Integration in the World.
Visa & Passport of the 21st Century. - Lazos Increíbles.

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 Mastering Reported Speech.

Links, for Your Preparation.

«Every moment a manager spends in the company of others, he or she is

communicating something. A leader’s professional credibility can rise or fall
depending on how others are reading and seeing him or her ». Unknown.
«We cannot not communicate. We do it by our presence and by our absence,
by our silences as well as our words, by our choices, gestures and attitudes.
We may not always do it well, but we always do it». Unknown

Visit: https://sites.google.com/site/mcenriqueruizdiaz/
Also: https://100and5stars.blogspot.mx/
And: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/
Get Instruments for your Training.

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